The king, gardener and flowerbeds
by tomaya-san
Summary: Tim is a young boy when he tries to cheer up Antonio on rainy day, but Antonio doesn't accept his cheering up. Some hours later Antonio tries to help the young boy in his own way.


It was raining outside the small blond boy stared from the door opening to outside while holding his bunny, named Nijntje close to his chest. "It keeps raining" he whispered while looking from left to right into the wide garden. He stared for a moment to the colourful carnations who received the greatest shower. The flowers seemed to enjoy the water allot, well that's what the king told him when he was home. "Home" He said in his mind while parting his lips. Slowly he walked into the garden on his bare feet, feeling the wet grass between his toes. Nijntje wiggled in his arms in shock trying to find a spot to keep his fur dry but that wouldn't work because the kid only wore an oversized ripped shirt. The blonde walked in his own quick pace to the flowerbeds, looking in a daze to the small drops of water on the petals. In his mind he thought how the king would usually make bouquets of flowers for loved ones when it rained so they would cheer up. The boy placed the bunny in the grass while focusing on which flowers he should pluck. In the end he plucked six flowers from velvet red to bright white. He stared to the small bouquet while adding some leaves. "that should do it!" He thought while grinning and looking proud to the flowers he just plucked without permission. "He would love them for sure and then he would also be happy around me!"

When he walked with pride back to the large house, he noticed a bright yellow flower with faint red stripes standing between some other strange flowers. Curious he dashed to the rare flower bed. "He must love these!" He whispered while grabbing the yellow one but before he could pull at the flower a tanned hand grabbed his wrist. "What in santa maria her name are you doing!" Confused, scared and in shock he made eye contact with two forest green eyes. He swallowed while moving his head backwards. "Why are you disobeying the rules again?!" The green eyed male pulled harsh at the child his wrist, so the blonde had to jump up so the other male wouldn't dislocate his wrist. "Y-you are hurting me, s-spanje." The kid said while grinding his teeth together and closing one eye tight. "tell me or I will hurt you in another way you will not remember." The Spaniard yelled loud while pulling the kid more up.

The blonde kid tried to explain the situation while ignoring the pain. "I woke up 2 hours ago from our siesta and it was raining and that makes most people sad so I wanted to give you flowers so you would wake up happy because my king always does that and I thought you would love it and and... " The blonde got tears in his blue eyes while saying the last sentence. "we could be friends instead of fighting." The brunette let go of the other his tiny wrist while rubbing his upper lip. The blonde started to sob while shivering. He hated crying, big boys do not cry but right now he felt useless. He held the flowers tight while letting tears drop on the ground, as if the ground wasn't wet enough. "Stop the crying chico!" The tanned male snarled while kneeling down with a pissed off expression but he kept on letting tears roll down his rosy cheeks towards his chin. "you know that you should ask permission for touching someone else their property, Tim!" The male flicked the other his forehead harsh. After an awkward silent the smaller gave the flowers with a glare. Antonio blinked while looking to the different colours. "I must say you have a taste in making bouquets though." He said to the carnations while standing up, holding the carnations in his left hand. "I think the bouquet is beautiful" Tim blinked and slowly grinned, finally he got a praise after three days of trying different things. " You think so?" the brunette nodded while a grin appeared on his lips. "Sí I think so but if you only were this good with mathematics I would even be happier" The boy nodded fast while grabbing the other's right hand. "I promise I promise"

Some hours later when the blond was in his room trying to study his mathematics, Antonio broke the silent. "I think it's time for you to have a small break" Tim looked annoyed up. "I am trying to study so leave me alone!" The brunette blinked and smiled. "What are you studying?" Tim gave up on reading and looked to him. "I am studying exponential multiplication" "Do you get it?" Tim got faint blush while looking away. "What if I get the double amount of tomatoes each day, how much will I have on the 23rd day?" The Spaniard asked while kneeling in the front of him. Tim swallowed while looking annoyed. "a garden, I don't know" "You don't know? What about the 5th day?" Tim looked troubled and played with his fingers. Antonio sighed while closing the book, Tim wanted to yell something but just kept it in his mind. He did not want a raging Antonio in his personal room. "What about the story of the king, the gardener and the flowerbed." The boy shrugged his shoulders. Antonio flicked his forehead playful while laughing. "you are a horrible student, Tim. Go sit on your bed." Tim looked confused while sitting on the bed. "Should I tell it" The blonde nodded while turning around, so he could see the brunette better. "Well then" The Spaniard coughed into his own elbow while grinning. "Once upon a time far, far away there was a male named Abel who was very poor yet proud that he was a gardener. He lived in a small house in the mountains with a rabbit." By this Tim looked more interested and moved closer to the Spaniard. "Abel was unlike most people from his village a smart man, so when the King suddenly need help with his garden. Abel helped him and within 3 weeks he was done.

The king was very pleased, with the result and he offered Abel a compensation, but that would barely feed him and the rabbit." The blonde sat up while listening. Antonio smiled at the response the child gave him. "Abel was not happy with this offer, and because he was a genius in mathematics, he knew a clever way how he would get more. Do you know a way, Tim?" The green eyed male asked while looking to him. "He could ask per month a debt of 1500 golden coins. That should be enough for them!" Antonio blinked and leaned on his hand while making eye contact. "actually he said this "Oh king! Your offer is too good for me, I want a small compensation to feed myself and my rabbit! On the first day, I only ask you to give me one golden coin for creating the first flowerbed. On the second day, I want two golden coins for creating the second flowerbed. On the third day, double the amount given to me on the second day and give me four golden coins for creating the third flowerbed, continue to double the amount every day until you have compensated me for every single flowerbed I made for your kingdom" The king laughed hard at this offer. After all, there are only sixty-four flowerbeds in his kingdom. So in the end he gave Abel one golden coin. When he went home the king went back into his chamber and laughed how "stupid" gardener was, he would for sure starve. He wasted a good opportunity to feed himself and his animal. He looked at the beautiful flowerbeds while laughing.

Tim folded his arms. "Is he stupid or what?" Antonio just went on with the story, ignoring the question. "The next day, Abel returned to the palace and collected his two golden coins for the second flowerbed. When home, He fed his rabbit a bigger carrot than yesterday. On the third day, he arrived at the palace and collected his four golden coins. That night, he fed the rabbit a bigger carrot than before. On the fifth day Abel returned with sixteen golden coins, on the sixth day he returned with thirty-two golden coins, on the seventh day he brought home sixty-four coins, and on the eighth day one-hundred twenty-eight golden coins, with barely enough food to fill his stomach. Abel finally compensated for one row of the flowerbeds.

On the ninth day, Abel brought home 256 golden coins, on the tenth day, 512, and 1,024 on the eleventh day. He finally had enough money to make a small meal for himself and his very hungry rabbit. On the twelfth day, Abel brought home 2,048 golden coins, 4,096 on the thirteenth, 8,192 on the fourteenth, and 16,384 on the fifteenth. On the sixteenth day, he brought home 32,768 golden coins. This turned out to be more than enough to feed himself, his rabbit and with plenty to share with his friends. Abel was finally compensated for second row of the flowerbeds.

Antonio looked up to the window while smiling. "Can you imagine what happened in the following days, Tim? Every day, Abel would bring home twice as much money as the day before. The day Abel finally compensated the third row, he brought home over 8 million golden coins. Abel had servants to help him carrying the money and in return he fed them and their families, very well." By the time he compensated more than half of the flowerbeds, he owned all of the money in the kingdom and, by the sixty-forth day, the king owed him 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 golden coins. More than the available money in their country! Now the king of course could no longer keep his word and he wound up in a debtor's prison while Abel and the rabbit moved into the palace and they lived happily after all." When the Spaniard said the final line Tim was already sleeping. He stood up and pecked his cheek while placing a bright yellow carnation with faint red strips on the small table where the mathematics book laid. "you should learn your mathematics better and that you can solve a problem with your mind and not only your emotions." Antonio whispered while walking of the room closing the door gentle.

Centuries passed and Tim the once petit boy changed into a tall male with a gentle attitude but right now his attitude was completely irritated, because Antonio was following him around like a stray puppy. Where ever Tim went, the brunette would follow. After 30 minutes of trying to get him out of his house he gave up, while frowning he sat in the front of desk. Antonio noticed this and flicked his forehead. "You should smile more, it makes your eyes shine" The blonde ignored the brunette by turning his head away. "Common one more time, a tiny smi..." Antonio stopped with talking. The other male sighed while turning around so he could face him. "You know it's rude to stop in the middle of your sentence and stop looking into my privacy!" Frustrated Tim tried to push the Spaniard out of his personal space but the Spaniard didn't move at all and only stared with a satisfied expression appeared on his face. "after all these years...I thought you forgot about it" Confused he stopped pushing while asking in a loud tone. "About what?" "the flower" Busted Tim looked to the old yet beautiful yellow flower, with rosy cheeks he pulled Antonio up, placed him gentle in the hallway and locked himself up by sitting in the front off the door. "of course I wouldn't forget that" He mumbled it softly while looking to the flower from a distance. "gardener"


End file.
